Strongest Pain
by Tmae3114
Summary: I've faced many terrors and pains in my time as the 'Hero of Falconreach' but none of them quite matched up to this... The Hero of Falconreach reflects on actions past and present, and the one thing that really bothers her most.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonfable. That right goes solely to Artix Entertainment**

* * *

I stood there, watching Jaania yell at Warlic. In hindsight, I should have stepped in and stopped it sooner than I planned to. Despite myself, despite the sacrifices Warlic had had to make, despite all he had been through, I was mad at him as well. Though I would never voice the way I felt aloud, especially not now. It was an odd feeling, that slight twinge I felt. Wargoth had been a monster, and I will be the first to admit that he scared me, though to say so would be a catastrophe, because a hero – a _symbol_ because that is what I have become in a way – needs to be strong, for the people they protect. Wargoth had frightened me, and knowing that he was inside Warlic, a _part_ of him – a tiny fraction of who he was, but a part of him all the same – was nearly as frightening as fighting him had been. So yes, it was an odd feeling to be certain, the feeling of fearing, even a little, one who had been – _was_ – one of your closest friends, even a bit of a mentor.

But when it felt it was going too far, I prepared myself to step in and stop another fight breaking out. It would be the last thing we needed so soon after the last one. I opened my mouth to intervene, and then the world went black. However, in the tiniest fraction of a second before I lost consciousness, I felt a searing cold that engulfed my body.

It would be many years before I was free. A few times I would be aware, awake, in the ice. The cold barely bothered me, encased in it as I was, because by the time I could be conscious enough to recognise it, the cold, numbness would be a long familiar feeling.  
Finally breaking free, the first thing to assail me was confusion.

Seeing that poor dragon attacked the way it was, the rescue from Manahunters by Rolith, who seemed older than I remembered him, fighting one off on my own, all of it confused me. _Why_ did they attack that dragon? _Why_ was it in chains? _What was_ the ice crystal?

Although, the help from Twilly made the whole situation feel a bit more like that day so many years ago, though it seemed much shorter to me.

I had been fourteen, standing on that cliff and just drinking in my surroundings. I had not been an adventurer for long, and I was simply bathing in the feeling of freedom. I loved my family of course, but coming from a family of five means that I had little time to myself, especially as the eldest. My younger sisters, Alexis and Farrow, were not as annoying as stereotypes suggest, I simply was enjoying the rare feeling of solitude.

And then the dragon had landed, I had met Lady Celestia and Twilly for the first time and my life changed forever.

Before I knew it, I had saved a dragon egg, was raising a baby dragon supposedly destined to destroy all of Lore. The people of Falconreach were welcoming, and the place soon felt like home. Ash was a close friend, though I was a few years his senior. We talked animatedly for hours on end about everything, ranging from my young dragon hatchling, to the best battle strategies, to what was better, Serenity's home-made bread or her cakes?

I formed a similar friendship with Aria quite quickly. At first, I was simply looking out for her, as Grams had requested I do, but similarities between her and my own younger sister Farrow became clear, and soon I had become fast friends with her.

Then life started to go out of its way to be bad for everyone. The first of many wars to come broke out. By the time it was over, we were all very weary and many friends had been lost. Shortly after, I received two letters, one from my parents and one from my sister, Alexis. They were both about the same thing, she had begun her own journey around Lore, and settled in the Shadow of the Wind village, to learn about and become a ninja.

Not to soon afterwards the 'Saga of the Orbs' as it is now referred to began and then things just kept getting worse. I later found out that my youngest sister, Farrow, had also left home during my quests, to study in Swordhaven as a mage.

Life just kept throwing everything it had my way, but I forced myself to stay strong. As the 'Hero of Falconreach' I was no longer really just a hero, one of many adventurers of different classes trying to make a difference, I had become a _symbol_ and symbols cannot be corrupted, so I made myself remain strong. By the time the elemental dissonance had been fixed, I was sixteen and much older than I had thought I would be by that age.

Upon reaching Oaklore after my freeing from the ice, the question at the gate truly shook me. I tried a simple excuse, and the guard let me through but his words rolled about in my head for days, weeks, afterwards. My confusion and bewilderment was increased upon by seeing Maya again. Her exclamation of 'Is it really you?', the incredulity, was almost...disturbing. Perhaps it was simply the fact that it seemed she had given up on me. Like Rolith, she seemed older than I remembered but I did not yet fully grasp what that meant.

It wasn't until I reach Falconreach, until I saw my home once more, that relity truly hit me. And when I say it hit me, I mean it _fused every single weapon in the history of Lore together and slammed it into my face with the force of a tidal wave._

I was fortunate enough to first see Twilly and my young dragon. I rushed over, and the moglin's excitement at seeing me again was uplifting. My young partner's reaction was equally, if not more so.

And then I saw Ash.

I didn't recognise him at first, being as adult as he now was, holding a sword and wearing armour of an Archknight, as he always had. When he came over, I was still hugging my baby dragon tightly.

He smiled at me, asked disbelievingly 'Is that really you?', _his voice had broken_, when I confirmed it the smile upon his face was the same as the smile he had always had and he had exclaimed with he ever present enthusiasm that _Lore itself_ had missed me.

It was then that I realised who the young man in front of me was, and it was odd for sure for my friend to now be taller than I was. He was well into his twenties now, perhaps even early thirties, his voice had broken, _and he had grown up_.

Questions assailed my mind. How long was I gone? How were my sisters? How were my _parents?_ How had everything changed so much?

And then Aria had come rushing down the path, chasing a young one of her trained Battle Piggies that had gotten out.

The twist in my gut was almost unbearable, reuniting with her. She was young lady of her own now, no longer the young excitable child I had known, in fact she and I stood head to head now, where before she had come up only to my elbows. She was still the same, but in a different way..._not._

The news of my siblings and parents was received quickly and with relief, all four of them were okay. They also were relieved to know that I was alive. I confess, Farrow was the one I had worried most about, learning about the purpose of the Rose. She had been training as a mage in Swordhaven, the capital, and King Alteon supposedly supported the Rose, a group devoted to wiping out magic, surely you can see why I was worried more about her?

All four would arrive to see me in a week or so, depending on how easy the journey was.

Soon after this news I would retreat to my room in the Inn and proceed to cry for several hours straight, not stopping until there was no more liquid for me to cry with, and even then tearless sobs would wrack my body.

I let out every emotion I had been suppressing to keep myself strong. I would shake and sob well into the night and the wee hours of the morning.

I have faced many horrors and dangers in my time as the Hero of Falconreach, from the deeds that earned me the title, to the things I did to protect others.

But I confess, nothing I have faced, not the horrors of Kathool, not the terrors of Necropolis, not even the moments when it seemed the end of the world was nigh, compare to the one simple thing I found in Falconreach upon my fredom from the ice.

Ash and Aria, two of my closest friends, though they were younger than me back then, had grown up.  
Aria was close to becoming quite possibly the best and most well known Beastmaster in Lore.  
Ash was at last an Archknight.

They had both achieved their dreams, things that before we had only talked about and...well, _dreamed_ of.

I was happy for them. Happier than I had been for anyone for anything before.

No, the worst thing was not them having achieved these things, that was a good thing.

The worst thing was that they had achieved their dreams, they had grown up...

_And I hadn't been there to watch it happen._

* * *

**So, I've barely completed Book 1 yet (Wind Orb, why do your final quests in Shadow of the Wind need a Dragon Amulet!?) but I've started Book 3. And see those last two lines? _Exactly how I felt._ Just seeing Ash and Aria all grown up...I almost cried. Because they'd both achieved their dreams, and they were all grown up and I _hadn't seen it happen._ Now, when I go back to Book 1 and see Young Ash, I sometimes tear up because that's the only way I'm going to see him. Young, or Grown Up. Not what happened in the middle.  
Also, Alexis and Farrow. Neither are in-game cannon characters, they're my other two player characters- a rouge and mage respectively, though I AM working on the ninja skills for Alexis. I put them in a younger sisters, because that's what they are in my headcannon, as they are player characters and technically 'younger'. Of course, I messed with their stories a bit because you can't have _three_ 'Hero of Falconreach'es, can you?**

**So, anyone enjoy?**


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